Your Compassionate Smile
by Working-On-Sanity
Summary: NEW! When Naruto found a blind catboy named Sasuke, he never thought that taking him in would lead to such heartbreak. Iruka said that it was better to love and lose, than to have never loved. But how can that really be true? NEW VERSION.


**YOUR COMPASSIONATE SMILE**

**Summary: **When Naruto meets a blind six-year-old boy, who is one of the race of cat-human, he never imagined that such struggles would plague his young life on account of it. Sasuke manages to destroy his romance life; his chances of passing the sixth grade; his friendships, and even his relationship with his foster father. Yet, Naruto refuses to admit defeat, instead increasing his efforts to befriend Sasuke. After a sacrifice on his part, he finally gets his wish –– but how, after so many tears and such pain, does tragedy still manage to strike?

**Author's Note: **Oh I'm proud of myself now. I wrote this –– all of it –– in a single day. Normally, something around 3000 words would take me a week. Is it destiny? Or is it coincidence? I'm just kidding. But here it is, _Your Compassionate Smile, _now so very really revised. It's quite different. And I think I write better now. I was reading the old version yesterday and I cried. Also, why did it have more hits and reviews than any other of my fictions? Huff puff.

***Note: **Though I used the term "neko" for Sasuke's species in the first version, I will use the phrase "cat-boy" or something along those lines from now on.

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**Chapter One: **Wind

The wind seemed almost alive when the last sheet of evening descended over the rural town of Konohakagure no Sato. The homey, old-fashioned spot of farmland was little more than a miniscule speck on any map depicting Hi no Kuni, or the Land of Fire, but despite its insignificant size, Konoha played an important role in the economy of the nation.

Konoha was well-known for its "living" winds, the very same currents of air that fed certain windmill power plants that were located in the more urban city of Iwakagure. The breezes were most pronounced in the late afternoon and early mornings, always when the terrestrial lights began to fade.

Twilight was considered to be almost holy in Konoha –– all celebrations and festivals, no matter the season, were held in the dusk, just to allow the citizens of the village an added occasion to be in awe of the unique nature of the Land of Fire. Balloons were almost a symbol of Konoha itself –– even the adults found enjoyment in watching the colorful helium spheres drift on the wind's back to gradually shrink in the distance.

The wind also served to be a method of distracting Uzumaki Naruto from carefully inspecting the curb before barreling past on his rickety blue bicycle.

The small boy had just embarked on his short trip back to his foster father's veterinary office, in which the two had rented a small adjacent building that housed a small bedroom and kitchen. Naruto's music lessons lasted the greater portion of his day after school, and he was always relieved to step into the warm comforts of his home to find his father for a affectionate, welcoming kiss.

_Oh, rats, _the blond muttered to himself, leaning his small figure over the handlebars of his bicycle and tightening his hold on the rubber grips. _I spent too long going over arpeggios and scales with Mizuki-sensei –– and Pa needed me to feed the parrots that Minato-sensei brought in for vaccinations. I hope he's not too upset with me for coming in late._

Though his thoughts were an attempt at pacifying his worrisome fidgeting over his having been tardy, Naruto knew very well that his father wouldn't even don a scowl in scolding. The same long-suffering gentleness that Iruka displayed toward the animals that he cared for as a veterinarian was the very trait that allotted him the patience to withstand the bouncy, childish forgetfulness that Naruto so often exhibited.

_As soon as I get back, I'll apologize_, the boy resolved. As he glanced up into the sky, squinting as a cold whisper of icy wind prickled his sandy-gold lashes, he was abruptly jostled when the wheel of his bicycle skidded into a hazardous dip in the sidewalk.

"Nnf!" Grunting involuntarily as the bicycle veered, Naruto clung to the handlebars with as much force as he could exert into his chubby fists. He was rattled quite viciously as the tires rambled over the edge of the concrete pavement –– without further notice, the bicycle lurched sideways, neatly letting Naruto tumble into the hedge of trimmed decorative bushes.

The boy sputtered indignant as he surfaced from the mass of green shrubbery, shock still embedded into his silver-blue eyes. From every angle, he could feel the tiny branches of the vegetation poking daringly into his exposed skin; yelping, he recklessly thrashed free of the unforgiving tangles of vines and hastily proceeded to brush away the soft patches of spiderwebs and smudged chalk dirt that had smeared over his clothing.

"Ah, sheesh, _dattebayo_," he quietly grumbled, his tongue twisting around the familiar Japanese phrase. Begrudgingly fumbling to extricate the spokes of his bicycle wheel from the thick bottom branch of a stubborn bush, he jerked it upright and sulkily kicked the aluminum stand back into its withdrawn position.

It was then, as a flash of movement flew past in his peripheral vision, that Naruto realized exactly _where_ he had been halted. He paused, his palm frozen to the leather seat of the bicycle as he assessed his predicament with mounting unease.

Tenchi Alley loomed before him, its dark mouth wide and oozing with abandoned articles of litter and overstuffed white garbage bags that appeared to be large teeth in the mounting dullness of evening. Shadows dripped ominously from the moss-covered brick walls, bringing with them the stifling aroma of waste and forgotten, ancient food morsels.

Swallowing back the heavy lump that swelled in the core of his throat, Naruto warily averted his gaze, too unsettled by the haunting sight of the alley to continue staring into its depths. A deep tremble zigzagged beneath his backbone, squirming into his neck to stiffen the fine wisps of hair at his nape.

Though the "Heaven and Earth" Alley was harmless in numerous ways, never posing a threat to any of Konoha's population, it had inevitably been the subject of many grade-school folklore horror tales. Descriptions of oblivious children who had wandered into the alley in pursuit of a straying pet or sibling were gruesome; no matter how the legends differed, they always ended in the same way –– the child never being seen again, disappearing without leaving behind a solitary clue to their whereabouts.

Naruto had often been forced to listen to such fables, as he was not considered to be anyone's favorite among his sixth grade class. Despite his attention having never been focused on the horrors of Tenchi Alley, each single memory he claimed of having heard of its menaces came to his conscious in a swirling flood of anxiety.

He hadn't regarded how the minutes crawled past him as he stood contemplating how he had gotten himself so near to the dreaded backstreet, but when he stepped into awareness of his surroundings, he understood with a quick intake of breath that the moon had emerged from behind the rolls of gray clouds. Darkness was rapidly lowering itself to rest on Konoha, and Naruto was barely home. The tall lamps along the sidewalks had flickered to life, casting long ovals of yellow light along the road and serving Naruto no purpose other than to intensify the eeriness of the environment.

_This is scary_, he whispered silently, his smooth hands quivering as he steadied his bicycle, prepared to swing his leg over the seat to mount. But whatever composure he had unearthed quickly dissolved as the most terrifying, ghoulish sound began to waft shakily from the interior of the dank alley.

"_Ah-woo! Nya-nya-nya! Yawoo!_"

Naruto let his bicycle fall to the pavement with a cacophonous, metallic racket as he clamped his hands over his mouth.

That howling noise was dreadful. It sounded demonic and ghastly as it echoed hollowly through the sinking twilight, stabbing through Naruto's self-control –– it was as if a hundred devils had flocked to one area, moaning out sorrowful wails of misery.

Naruto's expression crumpled as he felt scorching tears fester in the corners of his glazed eyes. He was afraid of whatever had claimed the alley as its abode, whether it be spirits or human or beast. And the unknown being had successfully driven Naruto to such a state of helplessness that he was crying.

"S-stop!" he shrieked on impulse, his voice cracking unpleasantly with a moist sob. "Y-you aren't s-s-scaring m-me, so ju-just stop it!"

His words ricocheted through the narrow street much too loudly, exploding from his chapped lips to detonate inside the alley. For a brief moment, Naruto anticipated a black, lumbering silhouette to emerge from the shadows to snatch him into its paws –– to his calloused surprise, his shout was returned.

"_Are you talkin' to me, nya-nya?_" The saucy question was clearly sarcastic as it bit into Naruto's mind. "_I don't care who you think you're tryin' to be, but just go away, meow! Leave me alone!_"

Blankly, Naruto gazed at the alley's entrance, tears causing a film to blur his vision. Though his heart resumed its panicking pace of ramming desperately against the curve of his ribs, Naruto was embraced by the warm comfort of relief. There was nothing but a mere person hidden in the passageway, and Naruto wanted nothing more than to boldly screech out hissing growls of anger at the one who had taken it upon himself to frighten him to such an extent.

Fury propelling his impertinent actions, the blond crunched his trembling fingers into a fist of determination to address the unnamed creature. He craned his neck to wipe his nose on his shoulder, before squaring himself to give an equally-irritated reply.

"Stop foolin' around, _dattebayo_!" he ordered weakly, slightly flailing his arms to exaggerate his command. "Get out here, right now, 'fore _I _go in _there_, where you're at!"

In spite of his claim being completely empty, for he held no intention of venturing into the alley, there came a sudden barrage of violent noise from within the blackness of the cul-de-sac. A deafening sort of clamor rang into the chilly night, and Naruto vaguely discerned the sound of glass pop bottles rolling over the ground and rustling wads of scrap paper.

Courage took its domain in Naruto's stomach, nudging away his fear –– for a fleeting second, the child began to cautiously edge closer to the alley's gaping mouth. Perhaps it was knowing that the person inside had been startled by his impertinence that spurred him on, or it could have been the old car that lazily slid across the road, its headlights beaming an unconcerned orange over the street to brighten his way.

Timorously peering into the cluttered, odorous strip of steel dumpsters, Naruto squinted through his tears in a willful attempt at catching sight of the being that had groaned out such a mournful, haunting song.

"Yo! Um... where are you, _dattebayo_?" he waveringly mumbled. "H-hello... are you still in here?"

He stiffened with fear, clenching his hands on the sharp curve of the aged brick wall as the commotion insulted the stillness yet again. He didn't really know what sort of beast he expected to see slinking from the pools of darkness, but as he slouched by the corner, gnawing nervously at his bottom lip, he was greeted by a snarling solid mass of black and white.

Before he was given the opportunity to react, something unbearably sharp implanted itself into the bare skin of his shin. He instinctively bellowed out a high-pitched cry, jerking his leg in a furious kick that sent his attacker hurtling through the air. With a muffled thump and a breathy whimper, the tiny body that had bitten into his shin made painful contact with the wall, and slumped lifelessly to the dirt-smothered curb.

It was some matter of seconds afterward that the impact of what he had just did pinched Naruto's conscience. He hadn't even been given a sufficient look at the creature to confirm exactly what it was before it had pressed its tiny, pointed canines into his leg, breaking through the buttery flesh to let blood seep through his stocking.

Warily picking his way to the unidentified creature's side, Naruto sucked in a large inhale of crisp autumn wind –– screwing his expression into a grimace, the blond gingerly poked the round toe of his sneaker against the small body.

When he received no response, he gratefully sighed, excess liquid spilling from his turquoise eyes to run haphazardly down his round cheeks. He shakily knelt, and as his observant stare pushed through the dim light, his scrutinizing revealed to him a very unusual and numbing fact of information.

His attacker had been a miniature _boy_.

The creature was undeniably small to have emitted such fearsome yowls as he had –– his body could have been packed into the space of a woman's handbag. His arms and legs were short and thin, and his fingers were curled limply into his pink palms. Worn penny loafers hid his little feet, while sheer white socks fit his legs like gloves. His belly was smooth and healthily rounded beneath his thick blue sweater –– other than his apparent extremely dwarfed size, Naruto saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Until the boy shifted.

His head moved just enough to be freed from the shade that Naruto pressed over the sidewalk, displaying thick, silken black tresses of hair; something oddly-shaped poked through the groomed locks. It took an extended session of pondering, but no matter how many ways he glared down at the creature's head, his mind gave him no image but that of a young kitten's delicate triangular ear.

Ensuring that hypothesis, Naruto timidly reached out, flicking the protuberance with his forefinger –– the "cat ear" was warm and stupidly smooth, and the inside was lined with a vein-riddled pink. Downy white strands of fur traced the cupped base of the ear as it disappeared into the child's scalp.

_What the... _His face blending into a mask of concentration, Naruto continued his prodding, all his agitation forgotten as he rubbed the tender skin of the feline ear between his fleshy fingertips.

_What's goin' on with this? _Tilting the creature's head thoughtlessly, he fumbled through the mass of inky hair to discover the identical cat ear that was latched into the boy's skull. _Is this little kid... is he really a cat? Could he be one of those interbred human-slash-animal things?_

Though the memory was hazy, Naruto recalled having heard his Basic Sciences tutor lecturing him on the amazing feat of crossbreeding. He was eleven, still very young, so many details had been omitted from Tsunade's explanation –– what Naruto remembered most, though, was that it was very possible, in certain circumstances, for an animal to bear a partly-human offspring.

And he had just brutally kicked a kitten across the pathway.

Horrified, he drew his hands back from their explorations and tucked them beneath his rear, sitting on his knuckles to keep from chewing at his nails nervously. His gaze flickered from side to side, and slowly, he pulled his knees up to hug them to his chest.

_It's really late, now_, he realized. _And I can't see that well... on top of that, I've been scared to death by a kitten-boy! It's knocked out, and I don't know how to carry it home so Pa can see it –– and I couldn't just leave it where it is. _

Squeezing his eyelids shut, Naruto gave a quick shiver as a chill slithered over his skin.

Had he been any older, it would have been likely that Naruto could have easily discovered a simple solution to his dilemma. But if the familiar truck had not chugged itself along the barely-lit road at that precise moment, it could have been possible that Naruto would have spent another entire hour piecing together answers to his problem.

With a humming purr, the smeared window of the battered truck slid downward, revealing the face of a distraught grade-school teacher. Genma's features were downcast with concern as he slowed the old truck to a crawl, glancing first at the crying boy, then to the overturned bicycle, and at last to the inches-tall mound that was the slumbering cat-child.

Puzzled, the man leaned deeper into the interior of his vehicle to dampen the twanging of country music that blared tinnily from the radio speakers. He reappeared shortly, one arm dangling from the open window as he acknowledged Naruto's distress.

"Hiya, kid," he addressed. "It's gettin' cold out –– why aren't you home with Iruka? What happened here?"

As if his face had never been bombarded by hot tears, Naruto offered a jubilant grin of gratitude. He clumsily pushed himself up, excitedly chattering constant phrases of gratitude. Genma attentively nodded, and when Naruto had proclaimed his recount of the evening's happenings to be over, the man jabbed a bony finger in the direction of the unconscious cat-boy.

"That thing," he stated flatly. "Is it yours?"

Uncomfortably, Naruto slid the heel of his sneaker against the cement ground and confirmed in the negative.

"N-no, it doesn't belong to me... it's one of those crossbreeds that it shows in the newspaper sometimes. I hurt it," he guiltily mumbled, "so I wanted to take it back to my papa and show him. Can you take me home, Genma-sensei?"

Relenting, Genma curtly gestured to the empty passenger seat, feeling his strength at arguing ebb away.

"Get the little halfbreed," he sighed, raking his fingers through his cocoa-colored hair despairingly. "I'll bring your bike over and chuck it into the back. Sound okay?"

Naruto gleefully clapped his hands to his sides, lowering his torso in a hasty bow of thankful respect.

"I'm so glad you came by, Genma-sensei!" he smiled cheerfully. "Everything's aw'right, now."

Satisfied, and somehow in awe of the fact that Tenchi Alley didn't seem quite so appallingly bloodcurdling, the blond trekked to the front of the hedge and squatted beside the oblivious feline-child. His hands slid effortlessly underneath the tiny raven's body, and as he lifted the creature, he was astonished to realize that it weighed nearly nothing.

"Come on, Naruto," Genma urged, kneeling to heave the blue bicycle from the ground. Balancing it on his shoulder, he sauntered back to his rumbling vehicle to store the bicycle safely into the truck's bed. As he did, Naruto toddled alongside him, prattling on about how he had chanced to discover the kitten.

"Get in, kid," the tutor coaxed, swinging himself up into the driver's seat. The maintained leather squeaked beneath his denim jeans, and he briskly clicked the gleaming buckle of his seat belt into place. His hand had already found the gearshift knob before Naruto awkwardly clambered inside, attempting to cradle the limpid cat in the crook of his free arm.

The truck sputtered to life with a low groan, and it jerked forward before resuming its comfortable, gliding roll east of Tenchi Alley.

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**Author's Note: **In the next chapter, Catboy!Sasuke will be formally introduced. Also, I've been doing a lot of studying on cat people. Even though they don't exist, you'd be surprised what a whopper of an essay can be written on them, and how many people you can fool with fancy scientific talk. I had my kid brother thinking that they were real for almost a week.

As always, feedback is appreciated! If not for me, then do it for neko Sasuke. Nya-nya.


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